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Two graduating high school women in Maryland decided to have a
backyard graduation party for about 80 friends and family. There
was a blues band, a setup for making s’mores, a popcorn machine,
hot dogs, hamburgers, ginger ale, cranberry juice and root beer
flowing. But no alcohol was available to anyone under the age of
21. It was all-American and very Norman Rockwellian

Then the police arrived to say that someone had complained about
the noise. That’s not surprising because outdoor bands and
big parties tend to be noisy. But the police didn’t simply
ask the celebrants to lower the noise level. They wanted to administer
alcohol breath tests to everyone in attendance at the private party
who was under the age of 21.

The homeowner knew that the small amount of alcohol on her property
was carefully guarded in the kitchen by responsible adults and restricted
to persons of legal age. She also knew that having a squad of uniformed
police administering breath tests to virtually all the partygoers
would effectively destroy the carefully planned celebration. So
she exercised her Constitutional rights and declined their request
to invade the legal gathering without probable cause.

The police then cordoned off the entire block with six police cars
and gave alcohol breath tests as people left the home, but no one
tested positive for any alcohol. The police were part of an eight-officer
Alcohol Enforcement Section that combs the county in search of any
person under the age of 21 who consumes any alcohol. “It almost
seemed like they were angry that they didn’t find anything,”
said the homeowner.

Then the police began ticketing vehicles parked outside the house,
which included those of neighbors who weren’t at her party.
Cars were ticketed for having a tire touch a curb and similar trivial
and typically ignored technical infractions.

Perhaps the homeowner was correct that the police got angry when
they realized that no underage drinking had occurred at the party.
They had clearly wasted their time but weren‘t going to go
away without something to show for their efforts. Although the homeowner
has questioned their clearly suspicious actions, the police continue
to defend their behavior.

The officers may have violated no law, but perhaps they should
devote their time and energy to catching real criminals. After all,
there are much more effective ways to reduce underage drinking.

“Give a small boy a hammer and he’ll go around hitting
everything in sight.”